In San Diego, a house that laughs at physics (pictures)

Artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," which has "landed" past the edge of the UCSD engineering school building reflects his disorientation at arriving in the U.S. CNET Road Trip 2012 takes a look.

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Out over the edge

LA JOLLA, Calif.--When you look up at the top of the Jacobs Engineering school at the University of California at San Diego, you don't expect to see a New England-style cottage sticking out over the edge.

But since June, that's exactly what you see -- Korean artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," an art installation that "reflects Suh’s on-going exploration of themes around the idea of home, cultural displacement, the perception of our surroundings, and how one constructs a memory of a space."

Cottage and garden

Suh's concept was based in part on his feelings of displacement and disorientation upon arriving in the United States from his native Korea. "Fallen Star," which was funded by the Stuart Collection, "has perhaps been picked up by some mysterious force and appears to have landed or crashed onto the seventh floor of Jacobs Hall at the Jacobs School of Engineering" -- much as Suh felt when he landed in the U.S. " The roof garden is part of his design and the whole creates a space with panoramic views for small groups to gather and readjust."

Way out over the edge

Suh's concept didn't just involve putting the cottage on the roof of the UCSC Engineering School building. The small "home" also sticks out into open space and is titled to one side to further express the sense of displacement and disorientation Suh felt upon arriving in the United States.

Tilted view from window

Tilted interior

A look at the tilted interior of artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," a project meant to convey Suh's sense of disorientation and displacement upon arriving in the United States from Korea, yet also his love of home.